Ghost DNA Reveals Unidentified Ancestors

Some modern humans carry DNA from ancient human groups that scientists have never identified or genetically sequenced. In 2020, two geneticists named Arun Durvasula and Sriram Sankararaman analyzed four West African populations and found evidence that their ancestors interbred with one such archaic group. Their models estimated that this "ghost population" diverged from the lineage leading to modern humans and Neanderthals between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago. It may have contributed between 2% and 19% of the ancestry in the populations studied, leaving its existence detectable only through their DNA.

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